Jim Rogers: There’s hope for Russia

Jim Rogers once said that Russia was a kleptocracy and he would never invest there. But the commodities guru is changing his tune. Last week Russian state-owned banking group VTB announced that he will advise their agriculture fund. He says: "to my own astonishment I am starting to consider [investing there] for the first time in my life."

Rogers detects glimmers of hope on the political and legal front. President Vladimir Putin "seems to have realised he will go down in history as just another thug unless he takes some real action he has started doing things that surprise me", says Rogers.

An example of the regime's apparently more conciliatory stance towards foreign investors is that it has set up "a huge fund of government moneywhich they will invest side-by-side with [private] investors. Having previously concentrated on lining their own pockets, it now looks as though they really want to attract foreign capital" and have "learned their lesson".

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Rogers says he isn't yet sure exactly how he will invest. But with other investors gradually warming to Russia too, says Ben Aris on FT.com, he may be "making another very good call".